Hello Nasty: Kevin Love on the Big Screen

via www.latimes.com

If that lay-up looks familiar, it should.

That's Kevin Love in the film Gunnin' For That #1 Spot. The Los Angles Times ran an article about the new documentary from Adam Yauch, aka Beastie Boy MCA over the weekend.

"Gunnin'," which has been favorably compared to the 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams," follows eight of the country's best high school players as they prepare to compete with 16 other top-ranked prep-school standouts in the first Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic. Unlike other all-star games, the Elite 24 didn't choose its participants by grade level or shoe affiliation.

The first part of the film consists of hometown interviews with the chosen eight, including sure-to-be upcoming NBA lottery picks Michael Beasley, Kevin Love and Jerryd Bayless -- and their inner circles of family, friends and coaches. The second half follows the game itself, which took place in 2006 at Harlem's Holcombe Rucker Park. Known for being a mecca of street basketball, Rucker has seen the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving and Kobe Bryant (not to mention other pro legends) grace its asphalt.

"I get bored with organized basketball," says Yauch, a Brooklyn native who considers himself a fair-weather Knicks fan. "I like the anarchy of street ball; just a bunch of guys going for theirs."

Using eight high-definition video cameras that were placed in various locations around the court, "Gunnin' " depicts the participants' gravity-defying moves in slow-motion and replays them from multiple angles. "I did that partly because it was fun and interesting to look at," Yauch says, "but also because plays happen so fast that you don't actually get to see all that's going on."

Here's a link to the official site.

It opens in Los Angeles on Friday. I don't know when it opens anywhere else.